


The Broken Shall Break Until it is Dawn’s Turn

by WastedSanity



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Angst, Depression, Link (Legend of Zelda) Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, My First Work in This Fandom, Past Character Death, Past Memories, Poor Link (Legend of Zelda), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-15
Updated: 2019-11-15
Packaged: 2021-01-30 23:56:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21436789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WastedSanity/pseuds/WastedSanity
Summary: This lifetime’s Link had been robbed of his own self, and so in his place something else took hold....AKA..Link’s soul is one with a mission, and one whose mission is never allowed to be forgotten.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 64





	The Broken Shall Break Until it is Dawn’s Turn

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y a l l 
> 
> I’m back again with another story ayeeeee *finger guns*
> 
> And I literally wrote this just to burn off the idea bc I’m sick ig and I love the thought of Link struggling with his destiny and his burden because it’s so heavy and daunting and harsh. 
> 
> This is, of course, f a n f i c t i o n, so when you see the liberties taken dont burn me with a pitchfork pLs it’s all for the sake of angst and story and a darker little ‘what if’ situation.
> 
> And I’ve only read over this like once bc I’m lazy and it was just extremely self-indulgent okie? Okie ;w;
> 
> So ye.
> 
> I hope you enjoy! ^^

Link wakes up. 

He finds himself in a dark cavern surrounded by a glowing liquid. 

On the outside he may have looked the same as he had before his healing slumber, but on the inside his mind was a medley of lifetimes and experiences and memories that were fitted together life puzzle pieces. 

This lifetime’s Link had been robbed of his own self, and so in his place something else took hold.

A Link, but a Link unlike any other.

Yet, a Link that was all others.

For not one lifetime was ever allowed to be free.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Link sees a world of water. 

It’s one of the days when one of his past lives is more prominent than usual, and one of the days that he indulges and stays around the Zora domain. 

The memories that crowd his mind are of a boy too young with too little training with desperation and determination singing in his veins as a lonely song. They’re of weeks spent alone on the water with only the spirit of a fallen king as company. 

It hadn’t been fire, but water that forged his soul into something colder and harder than it should’ve had to be at such an age. By the time his journey had come to a close and his sister was safely returned, the restlessness was so deep in his bones that he felt like crying when realization struck that he couldn’t stay still anymore.

He was too different now; a being the goddesses consistently called into action even if he had to go kicking and screaming.

At that point, he dreamed of being free of the tri-fold struggle that consumed the land for millennia. The weight of guilt and duty in that life had been astronomical as the ocean he had loved so dearly served as a reminder every day of his failure. 

And so as the memories trickled in again as they always do, a more realized Link that spent a life with the sea grew dark as it only whispered back memories of destruction. Memories of a harsh life just before the flood solidifying his failures had hurt the most.

It was never fun to remember your death, after all.

.

.

.

.

.

Some things haunt him more than others, and sometimes the haunting is too great for him to ignore.

Usually it comes in the form of his guard being ever unbroken; body always tensed and preparing for another attack, another scar, another pain. 

When he almost lashes out at an unsuspecting servant with a skillfulness honed from the pain built from lifetimes of battle, he runs until he finds himself lost in the woods. 

They remind him of a time living under the protection of the great tree-a time among a people he thought of as his own. 

But then the cold truth crept in, as it always does, and doused those dreams he held dearly of being with those he loved forever as it they were nothing more than embers.

Instead, he was ousted and realized to be a different person of a different race who had lived a happy lie all his life until someone found a need for him. After that-after he was found useful by the goddesses-Link was lost to the storm of battle that consumed the land. 

When he emerged afterwards, too many memories of death and war stuffed back into the body of a child who never had a choice in growing up, he was lost.

What could he do after it was all over-after he was left as the sole heir of the knowledge of a Hyrule overrun by darkness? Memories that were too much for a boy so young, that changed him with a fierceness that only left him reeling.

When the time came that gave him purpose to travel away from the pain that haunted him, he took it. It was worth it in an attempt to find his friend, in an attempt to keep that spark that stayed at his side throughout all of the pain. 

He never found her, in the end.

Perhaps, in that life, like so many others, he was destined to be alone.

.

.

.

.

.

Link ponders a life spent living in a time where his world was intertwined with another.

He remembers the girl who had been shrouded in darkness beckoning to his soul-a soul thats identity was unmistakably made known by the mark on his hand. 

At that point, the memories had already been coming back as they always did, and by the time it was found that something had to be done about the darkness, he was (bitterly) ready.

When the time came that he fought with a decayed soldier clothed in familiar armor, he could barely resist the urge to scream and retch.

His soul was not one that stayed and never moved, but one that continued on through lifetimes. The being that stood before him was not the Hero of Time, but his corpse kept animated by a spell that fed on his regrets related to the fact that all he had been subjected to had been forgotten. A decayed body thats implemented desire was to train the next hero in order to make him as fierce as possible.

But it was not the past Link’s own will.

In the end, it did drive Link to vomiting as he thought of how little his own will and wishes meant that even in his death his body was to be used for others’ purposes.

He supposed it wasn’t a surprise, but it was still a painful realization.

In that life colored by a myriad of Twilight, his form was morphed time and time again throughout that journey, and though his body always felt the sting of the magic that changed him, it was soothed by the one that accompanied him.

Midna was a constant companion, and one who could sense the pain swirling inside him with an innateness that he tried to find in himself to be wary of.

Instead, he found an immense comfort in her grim determination and her acceptance of his darkness. When his outer shell was peeled back and the agony was revealed to her, she reached out and held him close.

It was one of the few times he felt a sense peace hard to accomplish after the memories of his tumultuous lifetimes were recovered, and so he held her friendship close. To him, it was more precious than anything. More precious than the sword that continually wrenched him away from happiness, more precious than the peace he fought so hard for, more precious than him.

In the end, when she left, as everyone does, he saw in her eyes that she didn’t know how much it would affect him.

When he thinks of it in his next life, he realizes that was probably for the best.

.

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Link loved the soul of Hylia.

It was a beacon of light to all; a symbol of beauty and peace.

But even the hero that fights the darkest fights cannot help feeling the immense jealousy he does when he realizes early on that her soul doesn’t pass on like his does.

Instead, it is reborn completely fresh and clean, ready to take on the darkness with a new light.

She isn’t burdened with the past, for all she had to look forward to is the future.

And it hurts.

He remembers when his soul was new in a land in the clouds, remembers when he wasn’t burdened so heavily by battle. He has memories of joy and freedom-a mind unclouded by darkness. 

Now when the memories came back the burden of his soul was a constant companion; it was reminder of his duty and of his failures.

Jealousy was a moreso unwelcome one, but one that clung nonetheless.

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‘Please.’

The almost broken plea was unspoken-as most of his words were nowadays-but it was just as prominent and meaningful as a voiced word.

‘Please don’t pick me.’ 

Another step towards the pedestal, and Link could feel the sword beckoning even more to his soul, as if to shove in his face how much what he wanted didn’t matter. This life was so much different in the way that the amnesia affected him, but he still has so many more memories-more than even the shrine of resurrection could strip from him. He’s someone else, now-forged from the past he constantly felt pressing in on him until it was all culminated into one mind than held one single wish. One desperate wish. 

‘I don’t want to fight.’

The steps are hard and weather-beaten smooth to the point of being slick under his worn shoes, and he uses that as an internal excuse to walk slowly to the daunting weapon sheathed in stone.

‘This life doesn’t have to add onto the darkness.’

The excited whispers of the koroks around him grow louder as he steps up onto the ground level with the sacred weapon, but their emotions are a complete contrast to his that are of dread.

‘So please, please-just this once, don’t pick me. Don’t make me do it again.’ 

Link reaches out, and a hush of anticipation falls over the forest. With both hands he grips the handle and one strong tug is all it takes to free the darkness cutting sword from its pedestal.

‘You’ll break me.’

The Master Sword glows with a piercing light, and around him the forest sings in awe and happiness. Once again, the goddesses had ignored his will. Once again, he was to be their weapon-their unfeeling puppet-to win the battle they could not. Once again, he would be engulfed fully in a lifetime of strife. 

On the outside, his face is a picture of indifference. 

Inside, the culmination of lifetimes of Links resigns to breaking just a little more.

**Author's Note:**

> (I love reincarnated with memories Link-sue me) 
> 
> Anyways; this is my first Zelda fanfic, so idk I’m not good at it but it was fun ;;
> 
> Tysm for reading!!!<3


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